Evaporator control means



June27, 1939. MONEY nvAPoRAToR CONTROL MEANS Filed June 8. 1957 4 lim hH im xrNax MN m z Y f H W n 8 D a 0 gJ M z a H Zw .W P..

Patented June 27, 4193.9

PATENT OFFICE 2,163,698 EVAPORATOR CONTROL MEANS Roland l1. Money,Cincinnati, Ohio,A assignor to The Crosley Corporation, Cincinnati,Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio i Application June s, 1937, serial No. 147,152

6 Claims.

The general objects of my invention arethe 'provision of a new anduseful as well as ornamental combination of evaporator and controllingmeans; theprovision-of a new organization 6 of controlling means vandoperating means therefor; the provision of a novel defrosting indicator,and the provision of a novel panel, illuminating means and mountingmeans for the several int.

strumentalities. These and ancillary objects of l0 my invention whichwill be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in theart upon reading these speciilcations, I accomplish by that certainconstruction and arrangement of parts lof which' I shall now describe anexemplary em- 15' bodiment. Reference is made to the drawing wherein: .Y

Figure 1 is an elevational view with parts in sectionof the upperportion of an evaporator and the other parts of my assembly.

Figure-2 is a horizontal and partially sectional view taken along thelines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 ofFigure 1.

Figure 4 is a partial perspective view .of a defrost indicator element.f

In the drawing. 4 indicates an evaporator. The evaporator may be of anyknown kind. I have shown an evaporator such as that set `forth in theco-pending application of Crosley and Money,

30 Serial No. 92,172, filed July 23, 1936, and entitled Evaporators foruse in refrigerator devices, but

lt will be understood that this does 'not constitute a limitation uponmy invention. The evaporator is usually provided with upwardly extending35 mounting brackets tiv and 6, so that the evaporator may be suspendedfrom the upper part of the food compartment in a refrigerator, or from abase 'serving also as mounting means for a motor and compressor orassembly located above the food 4 compartment. In the illustratedexample shown, the bracket 6 extends downwardly and is attached to theupper refrigerated shelf 1 of the evaporator.

. To the front edges of the evaporator near the,

vtop thereof (or to a frontedge of the evaporator and the front edge ofthe bracket 6), I attach bracket members B and 9- as by welding. Thesemembers are bifurcated, and have outwardly extending portions III and IIand inwardly extending portions I2 and I3. To these inwardly extendingportions the usual temperature control switch box Il is mounted by meansof brackets -Il and I6.

A front nishing panel member 3| is mounted, by means of suitable screwsor the like, to the bracket member portions I0 and II. It has hithertobeen proposed to bring the adjusting shaft oi the temperature controlmechanism out through a panel and provide it with a knob for handoperation, together with a pointer or indicating device. Thisconstruction is, however, not par- 5 Aticularly attractive inappearance, and further requires that the panel and temperature controlapparatus be mounted suillciently low in the food compartment to permitready hand adjustment.

In myconstruction, I provide the adjusting shaft l of the temperaturecontrol. mechanism with a -lever arm I1 extending-downwardly-behind thepanel 3i. The panel is cut away as at I8 to provide a scale opening.Behind this opening I provide scale means I9, which may be mounted upon5 the bracket means I2 and I3 or in any other suitable way. and whichpreferably is translucent so as to be illuminated from the rear by lightmeans hereinafter to be described. The lever arm I1 passes in front ofthe scale means. Near its outer end it is provided with' an operatinghandle 20 which extends far lenough through the opening I8 to permitready operation. At its outer end the lever I1 is preferably shaped toprovide a pointer 2|. The scale I9 mav be provided with suitable indiciaand/or colored areas as desired.

Illuminating mea-ns comprising in the instance shown a lamp bulb 22. asocket 23 and a' switch 24 are mounted upon the temperature contrnlswitch' box I 4 by means of bracket members 25. The light is designed tobe turned on and oil automatically by the opening and closine,r of therefrigerator door. To this end. I provide an insulating operating rod 26for thegswitch 24 which extends forwardlyand through an appropriateperforation in the panel 3|; and is long enough to be engaged by thedoor. or by a member actuated by the door. as will be readilyunderstood. 'I'he location of the lamp bulb 022 will be such' as toprovide illumination for the scale I9 and also for a defrostingindicator next herein to be described. The bracket member 6 mavbeperforated or cut away in part so that light from the bulb 22 will serveto illuminate the interior of the food compartment of the refrigerator.45

I provide a` novel means for indicating the necessity of defrosting therefrigerator evaporator. As is well understood. lfrost and iceaccumulate upon an evaporator when in use and cut down its efficiency.The amount of ice which accumulates is variable, and dependsupon suchfactors as the temperature of the. evaporator in. relationship totheamount of moisture in the surrounding air. Thus the times at whichdefrosti'ng is advisable vary considerable with conditions and seasons;and this indicates the necessity for a reliable means for indicating howmuch frost has accumulated. In the practice of my invention, I provide aperforated metallic member which is highly heat conductive and is inintimate heat exchanging relationship with the evaporator. Thus thismember is adapted also to accumulate frost. The size of the perforationin the member is so chosen that when frost has accumulated to a suicientextent to close it, defrosting is advisable. This may be ascertainedeither by direct examination or by reflected light, orby passing` lightthrough the perforation.

In the embodiment shown the perforated member is indicated at 21. Thesize, shape and position of the member do not constitute limitationsupon my invention. As shown, the member is an angul'arly shaped piece ofmetal, ,one leg 28 of which is soldered, brazed or welded directly tothe evaporator. The other leg is perforated as at 29. The member maybemade of any highly heat conductive metal. I prefer copper. It should beheavy enough to insure the accumulation of frost thereon as frostaccumulates on the evaporator. The panel 3l Vmay be perforated as at 30opposite the member or opposite the hole therein. When-the parts arearranged substantially as shown in Figure 1, direct light from the bulb22 will normally pass through the Vperforation 29 in the member 21, andwill be visible to the eye through the perforation 30 in the panel 3l.When, however, suiicient frost has accum- -ulated to cover theperforation 29,-since this frost is granular or crystalline'information, it will cut oi the direct illumination or so greatly cut itdown as to give a clear visual 'indication of the necessity fordefrosting.

Modifications may be made in my invention without departing from thespirit of it. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with an evaporator having upwardly extending portions,bracket means attached to said portions, a temperature control switchmechanism mounted on said brackets and having an adjustment shaft, alever mounted on said shaft, a face plate mounted on said evaporator andcovering said bracket means and saidtemperature control means, said faceplate having an arcuate perforation therein disclosing the end of saidlever, and a scale associated with said lever whereby said lever is bothan indicating means and an operating means for the adjustment of saidtemperature control switch.

2. In combination with an evaporator having upwardly extending portions,bracket means attached to said portions, a temperature control switchmechanism mounted on said brackets and having an adjustment shaft, alever mounted on said shaft, a face plate mounted on said evaporator andcovering said bracket means and saidy temperature control means; saidface plate having an arcuate perforation therein disclosing thev end ofsaid lever, and a scalel associated with. said lever whereby said leveris both an indicating means and an operating means for the adjustment ofsaid temperature control switch, and operating means attached to saidlever and passing through said perforation.

3. In combination with an evaporator having upwardly extending portions,bracket means attached to said portions, a temperature control switchmechanism mounted on said brackets and having an adjustment shaft, alever mounted on` said shaft, a face plate mounted on said evaporatorand covering said bracket means and said temperature control means, saidface plate having an arcuate perforation therein disclosing the end ofsaid lever, and a scale associated with said lever whereby said lever isboth an indicating means and an operating means for the adjustment ofsaid temperature control switch, said scale comprising means locatedbehind said face plate and behind said lever, and illuminating meansbehind said face plate for illuminating said scale.

4. In combination with an evaporator having upwardly extending portions,bracket means attached to said portions, a temperature control switchmechanism mounted on said brackets and having an adjustment shaft, alever mounted on said shaft, a face plate mounted on said evaporator andcovering said bracket means and said temperature control means, saidface plate having an arcuate perforation therein disclosing the end ofsaid lever, and a scale associated with said lever whereby said lever isboth an-indicating means and anv operating means for the adjustment ofsaid temperature control switch, said scale comprising means locatedbehind said fae plate and behind said lever, and illuminating meansbehind said face plate for illuminating said scale, said scale beingtranslucent and said illuminating device being so located as toilluminate said scale from the rear.

5. In combination with an evaporator having temperature control means,said face plate having an arcuate perforation therein disclosing the endof said lever, and a scale associated with said lever whereby said leverlis both an indicating means and an operating means for the adjustmentof said temperature control switch, said scale comprising means locatedbehind said face plate and behind said lever, and illuminating meansbehind said face plate for illuminating said scale, said Scale beingtranslucent'and said illuminating device being so located as toilluminate said scale from the rear, said illuminating device comprisinga bulb, a socket and a switch mounted essentially behind and upon saidtemperature control mechanism, said switch having an operating meansextending forwardly and through a perforation in said face plate.

6. In combination with an evaporator having upwardly extending portions,bracket means attachedto said portions, a temperature control switchmechanism mounted on said brackets and having an adjustment shaft,alever mounted on said shaft, a faceplate mounted on said evaporator andcovering said bracket means and said temperature control means, saidface plate having an arcuate perforation therein disclosing the end ofsaid lever, and a scale associated with said lever whereby said lever isboth an indicating means and an operating means for the adjustment ofsaid temperature control switch, said scale comprising means locatedbehind said face plate and behind said lever, and illuminating meansbehind said face plate for illuminating said scale, said scale beingtranslucent and said illuminating device being so located as toilluminate said scale from the rear, said illuminating device comprisinga bulb, a socket and a switch mounted essentially behind and upon saidtemperature control mechanism, said switch having an operating meansextending forwardly and through a perforation in said face plate, and adefrosting indicating means comprising a metal 5 body in intimate heatexchange relationship with.

said evaporator, said body having a perforation adapted to be lled by anaccumulation of frost 1- thereon, said face plate having a perforationso located as to disclose said last mentioned perforation and saidilluminating means being so 1ocated as normally to send the lightthrough said perforations.

ROLAND H. MONEY.

